Playoff rewind: On his day in 2018, Jayson Tatum BOOMED LeBron James

Three years ago today, Taco Jay posterized King James.

It was Game 7 of the 2018 NBA Playoffs’ Eastern Conference Finals, and the Boston Celtics were not supposed to be playing in them according to most pundits — never mind a win away from the NBA Finals.

And it was the unreal play of then-rookie small forward Jayson Tatum that was no small part of the reason why he and teammate Jaylen Brown led their scrappy squad of young players to the brink of the biggest stage in the sport, punctuated by a poster dunk on the greatest player in the game at that time, LeBron James — then with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who ultimately got the win.

It was the dawn of fans of the league realizing that Tatum might be a truly special player, a realization now well on its way to becoming a fact three years later.

If this cursed Celtics season has you down, just watch the video embedded above, and know that better times, roster builds, and postseasons are just over the horizon.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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